Spring 2019 eNewsletter

CIGLR Spotlight

Welcome 2019 Great Lakes Summer Fellows!

Each year, CIGLR has the pleasure of hosting a group of bright, upcoming scientists as part of our Great Lakes Summer Fellows Program. During the course of their 12-week fellowship, students are exposed to a broad range of disciplines while working on a substantive research topic under the mentorship of a CIGLR or GLERL scientist. This summer we welcome 10 students to the program. In addition to a heavy research focus, the program includes career preparation activities and community outreach opportunities. The Great Lakes Summer Fellows program is in partnership with NOAA GLERL.

The 2019 Great Lakes Summer Fellows include:

Clay Carufel
Clay is mentored by Drs. Ayumi Fujisaki-Manome (CIGLR), Jia Wang (GLERL) and Philip Chu (GLERL). He helps analyze simulation results from sea ice, wave, and storm surge models from the western Alaska coastal region by comparing them with available observations, to provide forecast guidance of storm surges. Clay is a master’s student at the University of Minnesota – Duluth.

Lauren Marshall
Lauren is working with Lacey Mason (GLERL), Russ Miller (CIGLR), and Dr. Philip Chu (GLERL). She is processing environmental data collected by autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in the Great Lakes and helping to visualize the data so that it can be used to engage the public and stakeholders. Lauren just completed her master’s in mechanical engineering with a focus in robotics at the University of Toledo.

Andrew Oppliger
Andrew graduated with his bachelor’s degree in May from Ohio State University. He is working with Drs. Ed Rutherford (GLERL), Doran Mason (GLERL), and Hank Vanderploeg (GLERL) to study how density, availability and energetic content of Dreissena mussel veligers affect diet and growth of larval fish (yellow perch, alewife).

Holly Roth
Holly is mentored by Dr. Dmitry Beletsky (CIGLR). She is investigating the accuracy of over-lake meteorological forcing and its potential impact on surface heat balance and lake temperature predictions. Currently, Holly is a graduate student at the University of Colorado.

Jacob Rudolph
Jacob is working with Drs. Qianqian Liu (CIGLR), Eric Anderson (GLERL), and Mark Rowe (GLERL) on a project evaluating the accuracy of the HABs forecast in 2017 and 2018, and investigating how using different satellites affects the accuracy of the HAB tracker. Jacob is a second year Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University.

Anna Schmidt
Anna is working with Drs. Doran Mason (GLERL), Ed Rutherford (GLERL), and Lars Rudstam (Cornell University) investigating Mysis biomass and vertical distribution in Lake Michigan. Anna is a senior studying Environmental Sciences and Biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Steven Smit
Steven is an undergraduate student from the University of Michigan working with Drs. Charlyn Partridge (GVSU AWRI) and Ashley Elgin (GLERL) to investigate invasive round goby reproductive strategies across a range of habitat conditions.

Nolan Smith
Nolan is working with Drs. Jill Crossman (U. Windsor), Aaron Fisk (U. Windsor), Mark Rowe (GLERL), and Tom Johengen (CIGLR). He is evaluating the variation in real-time environmental data collected by the Realtime Aquatic Ecosystem Observation Network (RAEON) in the western basin of Lake Erie. Nolan is an undergraduate student at the College of William and Mary.

Matthew Trumper
Matthew is currently a master’s student at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities studying geography. Matthew is working with Dr. Jia Wang (GLERL) and James Kessler (GLERL) to build statistical models to predict Great Lakes ice cover and hypoxia in Lake Erie.

Jessica Zehnpfennig
Jessica is currently a master’s student at Central Michigan University. This summer she is working with Drs. Casey Godwin (CIGLR) and Deric Learman (CMU) to study the fate of the heavy metal manganese during hypoxic events in Lake Erie.